by A Griffiths on 21 July 2006
Salmon van As was tried by the British Military Court for killing Captain Ronald Miers on the 29 Sept 1901. He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to be executed on the 23 June 1902. The firing squad consisted of 10 men of the Somersets. Van As refused to be blindfolded. There was no proper burial. A fellow Boer later planted a thorn tree on the grave. A few years after the war Van As's father received a letter from the British government, in which the acknowledged that his son, Salmon van As, did not receive a fair trial and that the sentence was wrong. The family were entitled to a claim of compensation - which the father declined to enter. The so-called witnesses were not even present when Captain Miers was killed and Van As had to represent himself. You will find Veldkornets van As's grave at the Heidelberg Kloof cemetary.